


Deadly 7

by AvantGardener



Category: Melodrama - Fandom, Seven Deadly Sins - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Drama, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, F/M, Gluttony, Gun Violence, High School, Implied Sexual Content, Internal Conflict, Internal Monologue, Internalized Homophobia, Lust, Murder, Physical Abuse, Pride, Seven Deadly Sins, Shooting, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Violence, envy - Freeform, greed - Freeform, high school party, lake, lakehouse, play format, sloth - Freeform, wrath - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 12:05:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13613022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvantGardener/pseuds/AvantGardener
Summary: Seven teens at a lake house come to understand the complexity of their actions, and the severity of their consequences





	Deadly 7

**Author's Note:**

  * For [orosea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orosea/gifts).



> Y'all better buckle up. I don't really have a place to post original work, so I decided to do it here. Enjoy :)

Deadly 7  
Ben Mooring  
________________________________________

{The lights come up on TAMINA, alone. This is the time to set up behind the curtain, as this whole scene takes place in front of the curtain.}

TAMINA: When I was six, I was told I was an awkward kid. Despite being rude, it was the truth. My neck was long, limbs spindly and torso too long for the legs that carry it. I didn’t think much of it at the time, except that I was probably a bird that hadn’t developed its wings yet.

When the curtain opens, I can feel all the muscles in my body tighten like cords of metal. My instructor says that clenched fists aren’t graceful or particularly appropriate for a dancer, but he doesn't feel fright like I do, does not feel the sandpaper on your skin when the lights all center on you. But on top of the fright that proceeds like water on the floor, was freedom. I did not have a name on stage. I did not have a face. I was free. My wings had finally shown themselves, the adolescence of my emotions had blossomed into a bouquet of daisies that did not feel the death stirring in their stems from being picked; They. Were. Free.

I used to love to dance. I could feel my limbs stretch, felt my legs flutter like eyelashes, the feeling of your heartbeat to the rhythm of the orchestra. My toes elongate until they point, I reach the height of a skyscraper, my heart aerates like a fire in july.

What it meant to be alive.

I can’t tell you why exactly I stopped. I can tell you that when I did, I could feel my bones ache for the feeling of being free again. My muscles, the tendons under lock and key, a birdcage that I sat in for what felt like eons. I could tell you that when my friends came around I used to smile and wave. I could tell you that I didn’t use to just wear sweaters, that I used to try to look pretty

I remember when I thought I was, pretty that is. I remember when my body didn’t sag with the weight of my insecurities. Guess I didn’t use to have them. Remember the days when stretch marks were when you pulled on rubber bands too hard, and it started peeling. Remember when your feelings didn’t get hurt when people said you looked tired. Or skinny. Or ugly. 

And I am terrified of apprehension. That my life is a laundry list of disasters, just waiting to check themselves off the list and leave. I can feel my muscles on the precipice of pure stone, I don’t want to stop moving. But if I breathe too fast I can feel the cage my ribs form. 

And it does not get better. The cage remains, restricting the process of your breathing again. It feels like lightning when you catch a break; unfortunately, it only lasts as long as the lightning flashes.  
If there is a lesson to be learned here, it’s that life will kick you down and laugh when you cry. It sits on a perch blocking your sunlight and throws stones cuz it thinks it’s fun. You can keep moving, keep dancing, keep singing, keep breathing or you can stop forever. You can ignore stretch marks, or negative comments, or let them get to you. You can live, or you can die.

As I am standing here, you could say that I made the right choice

{at this point, TAMINA rolls up the sleeves of her sweater to reveal deep fresh scars}

Guess again.

{The curtain opens to reveal the boxes with a tarp on them. This is to be a car in the school parking lot. ZACK and LEO are over by the car, with NINA sandwiched in between. NICO and DANA are sitting on the “hood”, and SARAH is sitting with her arm over an imaginary person’s shoulder. They are frozen. TAMINA runs to SARAH, and moves so that she stands near her. Time resumes, and TAMINA, SARAH, LEO, ZACK, and NINA make their way to the car.}

NINA: Wow, you were right! The lake is pretty from up here. How long are your parents out of town?

LEO: Two days. We’re just gonna hang out here, maybe have a few people over. It’ll be fun, I promise.

SARAH: (Clearly dazed; hungover) Will there be booze? Because I kind of drank a little too much last night, and if I see any right now I might vomit.

DANA: Jesus Christ you are always intoxicated. Don’t you have any self control?

SARAH: In comparison to what? You? I’d rather not be so tightly-knit. 

LEO: (Nudges sister. aside) Hey, if you want me to drive you home, I wouldn’t mind. I know this really isn’t your crowd, but I thought since Sarah was here you might enjoy it.

TAMINA: No, it’s fine... Really. I’ll just situate myself upstairs, and read. But I’ll be fine. Promise.(TAMINA starts back up the stairs, but she stops, and turns back around to address something) Me and Sarah aren’t friends anymore.

 

LEO: Alright. Well, the offer stands. And if you run out of snacks I can run back to the house.

TAMINA: I’ll be fine! Have fun. You deserve it.

LEO: God you are so strange sometimes. Okay, okay. Just let me know if you need anything.

{Everyone makes their way inside. The stage is set up in driveway, front room view. Everyone moves to the front room, dropping their things, SARAH rather dramatically, and NINA bends over in front of ZACK seductively, and TAMINA slips past them trying to remain unnoticed.}

ZACK: What’s her deal? 

LEO: I know it’s hard, but try a little harder to not be a douche.

ZACK: It was an honest question, can you chill out.

LEO: Yeah, yeah I guess. But I know you and if I find out you were pickin’ on her, you’re out of here. I don’t care what excuses you have.

ZACK: Grow up. I don’t care about you or your psychopath sister.

NINA: Girls, Girls, you’re both very pretty. Let’s just simmer down. People will be coming in an hour. Just think about the party

SARAH: Don’t mention it yet, I’m not ready. {Comes from offstage, (KITCHEN) carrying a glass of some liquid.)

SARAH: Gaze upon my special elixir; “Hangover! Hang Thyself!” I’ve been thinking about patents. {Chugs glass}

SARAH: Alright, I’m ready. Where’s the booze?

LEO: Jesus Sara, we aren’t bringing it out until everyone gets here. Honestly, Dana is right. You might need a night off.

SARAH: Ugh, do not start. I need everyone to go ahead and hop off my case. I am a big girl. I can take care of myself. Tell Dana that if she is so worried about my health, she can come downstairs {Shouts and looks toward the ceiling} and tell me herself!

SARAH: Besides, there isn't anything wrong with a little bit of fun here and there right?

{All of them freeze looking at SARAH, who is bent over the couch like an angry regular at a bar. She stands up, and turns to face the crowd. She slides her fingers through her hair, takes a deep breath, and starts.}

SARAH: Believe it or not, I used to be a good girl. I know, all of you are giggling at the thought of me, the eternal wastoid, the bad girl, in a frilly Sunday dress at the altar praying to god. But things change. People open their eyes. God knows I did. You start to notice that pretty good girls go home to their pretty suburbanite houses, on their pretty well kept street, on their pretty side of the world. I live in a trailer park. My mom has three jobs. My dad skipped out like a bad pacemaker trying to get away from the trainwreck he left behind, and mom took up drinking to numb the loneliness. You begin to realize that you are just sloppy seconds. Good girls are not table scraps, they are the pretty and priss five star meals that everyone is after. I'm just after a good time. You can't trust people to leave you feeling like you're flying anymore. We all know what boys are after, Girls want to know which boys and why those boys didn't want them instead. Who can blame me for seeking the alternative? No one can. Not without looking inward to whatever petty crap they're trying to keep hidden. So what? I have given up! {Starts to get louder} Why does everyone think they get a say now? They didn't care when I was some good girl crying in the school bathrooms? Didn't care when I cut my hair, or tried to kill myself? There was no one there! People ask what's wrong for convenience, not because they care enough to want to know. Because people won't tell you they don't care, they just leave and you're left to pick up the pieces. People just don't care. The reason is because people only like good girls. I was never meant to be one. And I tried to be one for so long, but I'm done. Life just doesn't make me happy anymore. Who can blame me for trying to forget? Who can blame me? No one.

 

{The lights shift back from red to normal, and the scene continues once SARAH has wiped her tears away and resumed her position.}

ZACK: I brought swimsuits, maybe we can take a trip to the lake before the party starts?

NINA: I’d love too, although I’ve always preferred to swim without one.

SARAH: I want to go swimming!

ZACK: You aren’t invited. 

SARAH: Douche.

{DANA and NICO move inside, just as NINA and ZACK exit, both of which keep moving until they are offstage RIGHT. NINA looks back at DANA, who makes eye contact, and DANA scornfully rolls her eyes, as NINA looks down sadly and continues exiting the house.}

DANA: Where are they going?

SARAH: Swimming, which they felt was something that needed to be private. Better question, why do you care so much?

LEO: That’s something I’d like to know too. 

DANA: I’m just… concerned.

SARAH Woah congratulations on giving birth to a full height 17 year old? Damn that was fast, you skipped the pregnancy entirely. Makes sense though, your uterus is so tightly wrung it’s no wonder you’ve got pregnancy miracles, it defies all known laws of anatomy.

DANA: Shut up. It’s none of your business, and I promise I’ll say it again if you’re still too drunk to remember.

LEO: Both of you be quiet. Honestly, people come to parties for enjoyment, not to hear some idiots bicker like small children. I came to have fun. So will everyone else. I can definitely send y’all outside if you want to continue acting like small children.

SARAH: Whatever. I’m going outside. I’m sure there’s a trail or something I can walk to get away from here until the party starts.

{SARAH exits, NICO enters}

NICO: Hey Babe.

DANA: Hey. Do you think I’m tightly wound?

NICO: Does the ocean contain salt?

DANA: How did I know you’d say something snide like that. Do you even want to be here? I thought you hated parties.

NICO: I do hate parties. But I don’t hate you, and in fact am rather fond of you. I thought you’d like a little company, because if I’m not mistaken, you hate parties as well.

DANA: You are not. But you know how Leo and Zack get about the parties, and it’s the last one of the semester, so I am personally obligated to be here. You, however, could escape now and be scot free.

NICO: If I didn’t know any better I’d think you were trying to get rid of me.

DANA: Correction: I’m trying to save you.

DANA: You looking out for me now? {things get intimate.}

LEO: {looks up from phone} Ugh. Get a room you two.

LEO: {Starts to talk on the phone} Hey. Yeah it’s over at the lake house from last time. You need the address again? {Things get visibly tense} Look. I’ll talk to him about it. Yeah. He’s out there now with her. I’ll try to do it before the party starts but Zack isn’t the easiest person to talk to. Yeah. Thanks man. Yeah I’ll see you when you get here. Ok bye.

DANA: Everything alright, Leo?

LEO: You’re doing it again.

DANA: Doing what?

LEO: Sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong

{LEO exits through the back.}

DANA: This is exactly what I’m talking about. If they don’t like me so much, why do they invite me anywhere.

NICO: If it’s this much of a problem, why go when they invite you?

DANA: It’s not that simple. We’ve been friends for years, I can’t just up and leave. Besides, I still enjoy their company. The problem is that I don’t think they feel the same way.

NICO: Do you know why they don’t like you so much?

DANA: Trust me. If there is anything I won’t ever lack, it’s reasons to hate me.

NICO: Well that’s disconcerting.

DANA: Sure. But everyone’s like that you know? There isn’t a person on this earth that doesn’t make themselves feel like crap every once in awhile. I just can’t ever seem to stop.

NICO: Maybe that’s why. If you’re such a downer you aren’t a very fun person to be around.

DANA: I just wish I was someone else.

{The lights flash, and NICO freezes. DANA steps up, hand on her elbow.}

DANA: It starts with a flash. Nothing goes slow enough for me to wrap my head around it anymore. It was at a party two weeks ago, I was a little light headed, and I went to go out for a breather. A girl was out there. Her head tilted back, hair spilling like a waterfall on her shoulders, cigarette in her fingers. She asked me what was wrong, and I told her; in that moment all the bobby pins holding me in place were falling loose. We started talking and her fingers were playing with the buttons on her coat pocket. And she kissed me. 

But then you jerk awake. You remember that life isn’t as sweet as all the books you grew up on made you think. Life is rough edges and it is an endless uphill climb and I am strong enough to push through.

But on the off days, I still think about her lips being enough to make me stomach the scent of cigarettes, how I can’t wear that coat anymore because I can still feel her fingers dancing on the packet button as light as feather, but as pounding as an orchestra in my brain.

There isn’t anymore denying. She’s had my heart for two weeks. 

I know that being gay isn’t an issue with most people, but it doesn’t erase the stigma. When you are gay, it takes over your perception like the plague. It becomes your identifier. I want to be normal, I need to be normal. I don’t want people to look at my failure and think it was because of this, don’t want them to think that my success was bound to happen because of it either.

And this is it, the pit in your stomach resides in your throat. In the morning, I can’t walk by the mirror fast enough. It is an all encompassing, terrible thing to know that you will never be happy in your own skin. It feels so alien now. 

I want to be someone else. Someone prettier, someone not normal, someone not so uptight. I wish I was carefree, I wish I was a pretty girl who didn’t have such a problem. Who woke up with her hair in waves and wore denim jackets, and was a girl who liked boys, and could get them too. 

It starts with a flash. Nothing goes slow enough for me to wrap my head around anymore. It was at a party two weeks ago that my life started to crumble.

But we all have to jerk awake and remember that life isn’t as sweet as we want it to be.

Right?

 

{The lights dim on a distraught DANA. The curtains close, and time passes.}

 

   
{The curtains open to reveal the same house, but the party has begun. Beer bottles are littered around, and people occupy the house and the lawn. NINA and ZACK are outside, conversing with LEO. TAMINA sits near SARAH and NICO and DANA are off to the side of the party.}

SARAH: This is what a party feels like; I know you’ve never been to one but this is it.

TAMINA: Don’t pretend like you’re so cool. I remember when you had a lisp and you thought Tanqueray was a city in Spain.

SARAH: Yeah, the good old days. I miss them.

TAMINA: That must be why this is the first time we’ve spoken in three months

SARAH: People change. Now leave it alone, and try to have some fun!

{SARAH leaves to converse with others. Attention changes to NINA and others in the lawn}

LEO: Took you long enough. There are clothes upstairs, try not to spend to long in the bedroom. 

ZACK: Jealous?

LEO: Of you? Not in the slightest. Now change. And hurry. The guys have asked where you are a million times.

NINA: Quit. I am not going to be bossed around because you’re mad about something. I don’t need your clothes I have mine in the car. Now calm down, and try to ha- {reaches for Pride’s shoulder}

LEO: Don’t touch me. {takes a second to steady himself.} Whatever. Don’t get too intoxicated after people leave. We need to talk. {walks back to the house}

{Attention shifts to NICO and DANA}

NICO: You were right. We should have booked it when we had the chance.

DANA: Calm down. If you need to we can step outside, it’s not too late to ditch if we have to.

NICO: Nananana. Don’t jump to conclusions. We should have left while we had the chance, but now we are here, and there is music and drinks, it would be a shame if they went to waste. Besides, you look pretty right now, and I just can’t help but want all of you to myself

DANA: {Mocking southern belle voice, voice cracking a little.} Why little old me? Well Mama always said I was the prettiest peach she ever did see

NICO: You are wonderful.

DANA: I promise you won’t think that forever.

{The room stops, the both of them the only two mobile.}

NICO: Don’t be silly, both of us willing we’ll make anything work.

DANA: {pause} What is it that you like about me?

NICO: {Clearly phased by the question} What do you mean? What isn’t there to like?

DANA: That’s not the question; I asked what you thought of when you think of me.

NICO: I think of… Well I think of your hair. 

DANA: My hair?

NICO: Well yeah. You do lots of stuff with your hair. It’s nice, and long, and one of your defining features. 

DANA: Wow. The best thing you could think of... is my hair?

NICO: It reminds of me of coffee. Or waterfalls

DANA: {Breath catches visibly} Ok. I guess it’s my hair. Alright. I don’t know how to say this without hurting your feelings, but I don’t have any for you. I think you are a sweet boy, with a wonderful life ahead of you, but I don’t think I have any part in that life awaiting you

NICO: Wow. You.. You really know how to hurt someone.

DANA: I know you are better without me. I know it.

NICO: You don’t though, because you’re always doing this to yourself. If this is because you don’t think you are worthy, Please just let’s go and talk it out

DANA: I’m fine, I am. Just please don’t make this into something it doesn’t need to be I-

NICO: Something it doesn’t need to be? Dana we have been dating for 2 years, you were a chunk of me, still are!

DANA: But I’m done Nico. I’m done. 

NICO: You’re done! This isn’t an assignment you can just pass up on, I want a reason, I deserve one!

DANA: Stop it, okay please

NICO: Stop what? Being upset? Sorry I can’t help it. You are my everything, please, please don’t do this

DANA: I have to!

NICO: You don’t have to do anything. Just think about this

DANA: I have, you’ll be better off without me I-

NICO: Stop saying I’ll be better because it isn’t true.

{The room unfreezes, and the crowd snaps attention to the two. NICO storms off, and DANA is crumpled. LEO approaches DANA, trying to console her.}

LEO: Looks like things got a bit heated. Everything OK?

DANA: No, No I’m not okay. I should have never come here. I ruined his night because I couldn’t wait to tell him. 

LEO: I mean is it really all that wrong to tell him how you feel? Why is it your fault he can’t handle it?

DANA: If I shoot a dog, it’s his fault he couldn’t handle the bullet?

LEO: He isn’t a dog. He’s a person, with feelings sure, but he’ll also get over it. You breaking up with him isn’t a bullet. It’s just bad news

DANA: I appreciate it Leo, really, but now is not the time.

LEO: Just trying to help. 

{NICO is stopped in the yard by NINA, left alone after ZACK went to greet his friends.}

NINA: Hey I heard the shouting from out here. Everything alright?

NICO: Peachy.

NINA: Well I never liked them much either.

NICO: What?

NINA: Peaches. They taste like they picked up all the hair someone shaved off and stuck it on their skin, only to reward you after gnawing your way through cactus hide with something that’s really only bittersweet.

NICO: I guess.

NINA: If you aren’t okay, that’s fine. But don’t push people away. Solace can be found in the strangest places. 

NICO: Yeah. I’m not alright. I will be though.

NINA: I can help… I’m really good at helping people work through their feelings.

( NINA rests her hand on his thigh )

NICO: I don’t understand.

NINA: Just trust me 

{NICO and NINA kiss. TAMINA is outside, DANA retreats outside just as NINA and NICO retreat behind the house.}

DANA: Hey. You’re Leo’s little sister, Carina, or somet-

TAMINA: Tamina. Tami’s fine. 

DANA: Tamina. That’s a pretty name.

TAMINA: Thank you. You know you don’t have to talk to me. I mean, if you’re talking to me because you pity me, then you don’t have to. I mean I- {sigh} I’m a big girl.

DANA: Honestly, you probably hold better conversation than most people in that house hold their liquor. 

TAMINA: Introverts at parties. We’re spreading like a disease.

DANA: Is it such a bad thing? Who even cares about who slept with who, or why this person didn’t show up. I want to talk about how everything in the universe is made from stars, and how some people can still be the blackest pits of nothing you ever saw.

TAMINA: Black holes are just stars that are dead.

DANA: Touche, Tami.

{beat}

DANA: Hey, I know that you’ve been through some difficult stuff, and-

TAMINA: Yep. Knew this was coming

DANA: Knew what was coming?

TAMINA: You came because you heard from my brother about what happened, and you needed to see for yourself

DANA: Now hold on, it’s not-

TAMINA: Better yet, he probably asked you to check up on me, because I’m so helpless and frail.

DANA: I just wanted to-

TAMINA: You wanted to be a helping hand. Everyone thinks I’m some opportunity, like you’ll get your good karma from God if you decide to sit down, and bear through a difficult conversation with me, steel yourself, I’m practically the plague, and you’ll put me on the road to recovery if we talk this one time about what I can do better, because I’m sure you know best. Look I get it. You want to help. I don’t want it. I’m not a charity. Stop dropping your loose change in my lap and expecting some congratulatory bumper sticker.

DANA: Fine, clearly you’d like to be left alone. 

TAMINA: {Sulks}

{DANA gets up to go back inside, leaving TAMINA sitting where she was. LEO steps out with ZACK, and things feel tense}

LEO: Look, I couldn’t talk to you while she was here, I don’t think you understand exactly what’s happening

ZACK: Don’t question my intelligence. 

LEO: You’re intelligence doesn’t matter right now. Do you think she loves you?

ZACK: Excuse me?

LEO: Do you. Think she. Loves you.

ZACK: I mean it’s been four months, so I would assume we feel the same way about each other.

LEO: Really? That’s strange, because I don’t think she does. Where is she right now?

ZACK: I don’t know, we’re at a party, I’m not her babysitter.

LEO: You might want to find her.

ZACK: What are you insinuating?

LEO: You know exactly what I’m insinuating. Don’t pretend like you don’t. Even if you only have a spectre of a doubt you know deep down that she isn’t being loyal.

ZACK: Are you saying she’s cheating on me?

LEO: Yeah. I am.

ZACK: Slow down. Even if she is cheating on me, IF, how do you even know about it?

LEO: I… About that. We may have… done some things.

ZACK: Things? What kind of things?

LEO: I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. 

ZACK: Sorry? You’re sorry? Oh, he’s sorry, he’s sorry everyone, he’s sorry! 

LEO: Stop it. I am trying to help you

ZACK: You’re gonna wait here. We are gonna settle this. Now! 

{ZACK stomps into the house. TAMINA, hearing the onslaught, heads to LEO}

TAMINA: What’s going on? 

LEO: Nothing. Don’t worry about it.

TAMINA: He seemed really angry.

LEO: It’s about to get a whole lot worse. 

{ZACK drags NINA out of the house, a disgruntled NICO stumbling behind them. SARAH follows out of interest, as do a number of the extras.}

ZACK: Did you think I wouldn’t find out? Thought that you could sneak behind my back, make me look like a fool? 

NINA: Babe, it’s not-it isn’t what it-

ZACK: Looks like? You better hope and pray it isn’t. 

LEO: Get off man! {Tries to wrench ZACK’s hand from NINA’s hair.}

ZACK: Now you are defending her? You were the one who told me she was fooling around right? Then let’s give her what she deserves

LEO: Do you hear yourself? She’s a human being you can’t just “give her what she deserves” {At this point, LEO successfully takes ZACK’s hand out of NINA’s hair. ZACK is dumbfounded}

ZACK: I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.

{LEO is checking on NINA when he turns around.}

LEO: What the hell are you talking about?

ZACK: You like her. You knew what she was doing, but you waited until I would be hurt the most until you told me. You wanted us to break up, so you could have her all to yourself.

LEO: You are crazy.

ZACK: No it’s the truth. You are a snake. You lied to me, pretended to be my friend for so long. I hate you.

LEO: It’s not like that. 

{Things are getting tense fast. ZACK is getting physical, LEO is returning the favor. It gets really physical, as LEO punches ZACH in the face.}

LEO: Get my bag!

TAMINA: What? Why?

LEO: Just do it!

{TAMINA sprints off stage, as NINA stops just watching in shock, but is actively trying to tear them apart. ZACK pushes her away hard enough to throw her off for a couple of seconds. TAMINA runs back on stage with LEO’s bag, to which she throws on the ground near him. LEO hits ZACK hard enough for him to stumble, and then dives for the bag. He scrambles to get it open, and then pulls out a pistol. The extras run off stage, screaming, leaving the 7.}

ZACK: Can’t fight your own fights? Gotta pull out a gun to finish things?

NINA: (overlapping) Shut up, Zack.

LEO: Maybe I do. Now are you gonna calm down enough to have a civil conversation

ZACK: You brought a firearm into a confrontation that didn’t need one, but I’m not civil enough for you

NINA: Shut up, Zack!

ZACK: You stay quiet, slut. Sit and remember how we got here.

LEO: I didn’t lie to you. I told you we fooled around, and nothing else happened.

ZACK: What do you mean, fooled around? What exactly did you do.

LEO: It doesn’t matter. You are going to stop, and you’re gonna step inside, and you are gonna cool off. I may not be Annie Oakley, but I have enough aim to shoot you where you stand. 

NINA: Listen to him, Zack, please.

ZACK: Shut up!

NINA: Please!

DANA: Don’t pretend like you have feelings now!

NINA: You stay out of this!

DANA: No, no if we’re going to talk about this whole thing honestly, then let’s talk. Tell them about that party in August. 

NINA: (feigning ignorance) I.. I don’t know what you are talking about.

DANA: Tell them about how you couldn’t stop fiddling with the buttons on my coat, how you played with my hair, how you kissed me, and promised me so much more!

NINA: Stop, I’m sorry, I don-

DANA: You’re sorry? Zack, you are wrong. Leo is no snake, she is. You lied to me, you lied to Zack, to Leo. Who else? Tried to sleep with someone else too huh? What’d you tell him, that you just wanted to help? You are a manipulative bitch! You have no concern or feelings for anyone but yourself, and if anyone gets in the way of your good time, then you move on.

NINA: Please, I don’t wanna be here anymore.

DANA: That’s too bad! You came here, and you played with people’s feelings, my feelings. You belong on the outside always. You are a homewrecker. You don’t deserve people’s affection! You don’t deserve people treating you right! You don’t deserve love at all!

NINA: STOP! 

{after the blood curdling scream, NINA falls onto the floor, and sons. All of the attention turns back to the conflict with ZACK and LEO; NICO looks at DANA like he’s going to murder her, and SARAH is horrified with the situation, and TAMINA is sticking really close}

DANA: He isn’t innocent either. Who are you trying to kid? We all see through your flimsy facade, Leo. You loved her just as much as the rest of us, but she left you behind too for better things. It’s just how she is. 

LEO: No. She was crying, and a mess, and she came home from Zack's house with a bruise the size of an apple, and spent the night. When I woke up, she was in my bed, and we were both naked. I didn't know what happened, and I was scared, and I knew that even if we didn't sleep together, something happened. 

TAMINA: Wait, you hit her? Are we just going to pretend like we all didn't hear him say a bruise the size of an apple after she left YOUR house. 

LEO: Knowing what she did now, maybe she deserved it.

TAMINA: How could you even say that? Yeah it was wrong, but she doesn't deserve to be hit over it, nobody does. 

ZACK: Are you trying to accuse me of something?

TAMINA: You dont scare me. I'd like to see you try to lay a hand on me. 

ZACK: I guarantee you, you most certainly don't want to see that. 

LEO: Go away Tamina, this isn't I think you should see.

TAMINA: I am not a little kid, you don't get to boss me around. 

LEO: You tried to kill yourself! You tried to toss away your life, you don't get to make those decisions anymore.

TAMINA: But you think you are making worthwhile decisions here? You have a gun pointed at an unarmed teenager because you slept with his girlfriend and he's a little cut up about it. 

LEO: I've witnessed more than a few times what those hands are capable of. 

TAMINA: Put the gun down.

LEO: Tamina stop, you-

TAMINA: Put the gun down!

LEO: FINE!

{LEO drops the gun, and immediately ZACK charges. TAMINA is shocked and runs to get out of the way. The two boys are on the ground, wrestling, until ZACK is on top slinging punches, and LEO is slowly reaching for his gun, and trying to use the gun. NINA is standing again, trying once again to pull them off of each other, and everyone stands in the back, and SARAH is the first to notice the gun in LEO´S hands. She yells and ZACK smacks the gun out of LEO´s hands as the gun fires. The sound of the bullet sounds through the auditorium as everyone freezes. NINA, struck by the bullet, drops to her knees, and then collapses. Everyone is horrified. ZACK scrambles to the dead body, and cradles her head and strokes her hair, pleading that she keep breathing. NINA is lifeless in his arms, and everyone is struck with grief and shock. ZACK is hysterical, screaming for someone to take her to a hospital. Everything is frozen, and NINA climbs out of ZACK’s arms}

NINA: How many times do you say I love you a day? Your parents, your friends, some obsession on TV. I never used to say it. My mother used to say I was a reserved girl, fingers in the crooks of my elbows and eyes wide like I took more in than I could ever put out, and my love was more deep than words could express.

When I was fourteen, I learned that it didn’t matter how deep my love ran. It could be torn out like worms in the dirt. I was only fourteen when I learned that men did not wait for me to tell them I loved them before they consummated it. 

I learned then that I wasn’t meant for love. Love was a perfect day, and I could never seem to find my way out of the rain. I haven’t had a sunny day since. It looks like now I never will. I always wanted to live in a house on the end of the street, with a boy who told me that he loved me every day. I wanted a boy who could tell me the world was something we could share. I wanted a boy who knew what a soulmate was; we both would.

I thought I found him. Last spring, Zack came to my window with a bouquet of wildflowers he picked himself and a two liter of ginger ale because it was my favorite, and we were sixteen. He took me on a walk, and his hands couldn’t stop fidgeting, he was so nervous. I’d never seen him so shaky. We got to the pond at the end, and he unpacked, and we laid by the water and looked up at the stars. And he got up, looked at me, and said “I think about you a lot, and I don’t really know how to do this, but I know that you are the best thing to ever happen to me, and even though I am not sure I know what love is, I know I love you.” And he kissed me. And the rain finally let up enough to know the sun was still there, and it was. He was the first who didn’t need to slide a hand up my skirt to tell me that he loved me. He loved me! I could sing again, sing at the top of my lungs that I wasn’t broken after all, because I found him, God did I find him.

But I was broken. It didn’t take long to realize that I was either. Things that he used to love about me didn’t appeal to him anymore. When I kicked my feet up on the dashboard it wasn’t cute, but childish. My taste in food isn’t eccentric anymore, just picky. I wasn’t an adventure anymore. I was a liability. My soulmate; the one who I was supposed to build a life with, had just folded and cashed in his chips. He was a shell of anger. He got frustrated easy, couldn’t take no for answer, no longer said I love you until after we had sex. I don’t know what drove him to become so sick of me. 

And then I knew. I wasn’t meant to be his wife. I wasn’t good enough. I was always going to be a fling, a girl at a bar, with the reputation. I was always going to be a stepping stone, the rebound. And I’m okay with that. There isn’t anything left for me. So I would help them in the only way I was good for. If love had someone down, I would offer myself up. Because I never want anyone to come to the same conclusion that I did; that they aren’t good enough. 

So death doesn’t scare me. I’ll be damned, God knows I tried so hard to chase my dreams, but he didn’t see that for me. So I am okay with going. Maybe when I get to the other side, There will be someone who could love me, and I won’t screw it up so bad. Maybe… maybe love will happen for me after all. 

{Everything resumes after NINA falls back into ZACK’s arms. SARAH runs inside and grabs her purse, and asks for NICO to help ZACK carry NINA to her car. All four go off stage. TAMINA is crying, wiping tears from her eyes with the sleeves of her sweater, LEO is slumped in a corner, broken, and DANA is calling the police about the incident. Eventually, DANA hangs up the phone.}

DANA: The police will be here in 45 minutes.

{Another bit of hard silence, LEO is running his hands through his hair. TAMINA is holding her emotions in bad. And DANA is fuming}

DANA: Congratulations. You killed her because you were too much of a pussy to fight someone for sleeping with their girlfriend. You killed a girl of sixteen with a pistol. I want to hit you so bad right now but It really doesn’t matter. You’ll get quite a bit of that in prison. Star quarterback or not.

LEO: *cries*

DANA: You are pathetic. 

TAMINA: Stop it. Why are we blaming anyone but the person dragging people outside and pummeling them. He was just trying to defend himself.

DANA: You cannot be serious

TAMINA: He is my brother, the extent of his murderous capability is insects.

DANA: Clearly not, there is a dead girl getting wheeled to a hospital because your jackass sibling was trigger happy and scared. He should have just taken it like a man. 

TAMINA: Would you be next? Last I checked, you were messing around with her too. Wasn’t your ex-boyfriend just caught as well? You were all perpetrators, Leo was just in the deepest. Just because she is dead does not make her innocent.

DANA: She is dead! This isn’t about feelings, or sleeping around, or how angry Zack is. Nina is dead in a car backseat because he was scared. She won’t wake up ever again. Yeah, she was promiscuous but she was sweet, and intelligent, and I loved her, and she’s going to be buried  
because he couldn’t own up to what he did. If I could have taken his place, I would. I would have met all those punches full on. If he really loved her, it’s what he should have done. 

TAMINA: And you did? Since when are you even a lesbian, you were like the most uptight person I have ever met and now you have feelings for a dead flooze.

DANA: You are repugnant, she has been dead for less than ten minutes and already you are insulting her reputation. Just because you decided to take your own life does not mean you can stomp on the value others might place on it.

TAMINA: She’s dead. It’s not like I can hurt her feelings now.

LEO: Can you both stop talking like I can’t hear you.

DANA: You don’t get to speak; You’re lucky I didn’t take a brick and mash your brain to bits.

LEO: It’s not my fault! He beat her time and time again and I was not going to let it happen to me.

DANA: Maybe then, if you’re going to shoot a gun, then use one like you aren’t a coward. 

LEO: {he starts like he needs to say something, but as he does, the cast freezes. LEO reacts almost as if the thought of opening up to the audience makes him sick from nervousness}

LEO: I used to be tiny. 5’11, scrawny and big dreams. I used to love painting too. I used to paint all kinds of things, but birds were my favorite, and I enjoyed them often. We had a bird feeder out back, and all kinds of birds from all over used to come to that bird feeder, and I’d paint them. 

Once, I brought home an essay. “What I Want To Be When I Grow Up.” Dad didn’t read but two sentences before he tore it to shreds, and told me “Son, painting doesn’t pay the bills. You’ve got to get good at the realistic things. Be a computer programmer.”

So I stopped painting. If you looked, the paints would’ve still been there, collecting dust. I left them behind because life didn’t leave enough time for painting. I started taking classes, planning for college. All the while, I started to forget what painting felt like. Things just happened.

Now, I am 6”2. I bulked up to play football, and the only paint that crossed my mind was on the banners I ran through. Life was like computer programming. Set pace, day in, day out.

And then I met Nina. Her hands were soft, and she got you talking about things you normally didn’t talk about. Like old sofas. Or feudal japan. Or peaches. Or how 95% of this town’s export is sorghum, but if you asked someone not from around here what sorghum was, they’d shrug. She just talked about things nobody else would. She asked what my favorite color was, and why, and what made me think that. She asked me what I wanted to be, and the words just came up like a geyser. “A painter.” I realized then that that had never really changed. And she got wide eyed, and asked to see what I had done, and if I was one of them good painters that you pay to paint you a picture because she had a lot of ideas. And then I realized that she was something that I wanted to love. 

I knew she was Zack’s. I just didn’t care. I wanted her more than anything. And I killed her for it. I wanted to break them apart. Would do anything to get her away from him, to think we were friends once. 

Dana was right. I am a coward. But she was the first person to make me feel proud of myself. I just wanted to set her free. But I clipped her wings instead. 

I understand why Tami tried to kill herself now. I think feeling like this isn’t something you are supposed to do for long, but I can’t help but remember those children she always talked about. The names she picked out. How she’ll never get to have them. I will never escape this. Even if I could, I wouldn’t. I deserve whatever I get. I deserve every bit of it. 

{The cast unfreezes after LEO gets back into position. Immediately after, NICO runs in, hair disheveled, and he is a mess. His clothes are torn, and he is bleeding.}

DANA: Oh my god, what happened?

NICO: Sara was.. She couldn’t drive right, she was drunk and… she slammed on the brakes after pulling out but it was too late. We have to go help, I think it’s too late for.. But I need to get..

DANA: I need you to make sense, you’re scaring me

NICO: Please just come on, we have to help them out of the car. 

{DANA and NICO rush out quick to try to get any survivors, leaving TAMINA and LEO alone}

LEO: You can tell me what you’re thinking. I already know.

TAMINA: Don’t beat yourself up. It is what it is.

LEO: You think I was a coward.

TAMINA: It doesn’t matter what I think. Her family is going to press charges. Any chance for college is gone if you are convicted of manslaughter, or even murder.

LEO: I don’t care about my future.

TAMINA: Yeah. I am sure your angsty adolescent love truly was heart wrenching; save the waterworks.

LEO: How could you even say that? It has nothing to do with my emotions, she’s dead. I killed her. What is wrong with you?

TAMINA: I think you are upset. But you don’t know what it means to not want a future.

LEO: A survived suicide attempt doesn’t make you an expert on emotions. You are still just as lost and hurt as the rest of us, if not more so.

TAMINA: It doesn’t change anything you are right, I have no idea what I am talking about and this is all completely foreign to me; what’s that? Having an experience with something teaches you how to handle it? That can’t be correct, Leo Kessler says that’s not how it works and he knows all, but not from experiences, he is just the king of all knowledge.

LEO: Quit being a child. I know it’s hard for you, but please.

TAMINA: It is! It is so hard because I have to live my life under the burden of knowing I am less successful than you! You have never offered more to me than the idea that I am subhuman in comparison to everyone else. I wish I could be a child. I wish that a lot. But mom and dad, and my friends, and the world, and you took it away from me. And now, you think because that you did the dumbest thing ever means you get to quit? No: This is nothing. This is a booty call with strings attached and a hard as hell case to convict. You’ll get a year, or less, or even just a slap on the wrist because it’s you! You get everything so easy, and this doesn’t change a damn thing. And we both know it. I hope you are guilty. I hope it tears you up because it’s the only punishment you will ever get. 

LEO: I… don’t know what to say.

TAMINA: Don’t say anything. It’s not needed. Just, for my sake, be smart. Smarter. You may be a snide know it all perfectionist prick, but I love you. And I know… I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but I do want the best for you. I’m mad because you were always destined for good things. I’m just not. You have a spot in the NFL waiting for you, I know you are good enough. You’ll have time to paint for once, I remember it used to be the best part of your day. Don’t let this ruin you. Please. She was a sweet girl but she isn’t that sweet. Sugar isn’t that sweet. Nothing is. I just want you to come out of this for the better. Maybe not unscathed, but no worse for wear. You deserve a lot of shit to go wrong for awhile. But this… this is not your epitaph. 

LEO: Wow. I… I’ll try. Why… now?

TAMINA: Because, you are my brother. The only person left in this world that hasn’t given up on me. I was down and out, and the world had curb stomped me and thrown me into an unmarked grave, and you were the only person willing to get the blood and the dirt on you to dig me out. Leo, you are an asshole. Period. And what you did was so breathtakingly stupid and wrong, and you have every right to be upset, and everyone has every right to be upset at you. But she’s gone. You can’t hurt her feelings now. It’s bad luck to talk about people when they are dead, but that doesn’t make her any less of a manipulator, and a player, and a fool. You will move on. You will aspire. Starting now. 

{NICO and DANA have arrived, SARAH in their hands. She is bloody, with a large wound on her stomach. It is clear to those carrying her, and those before her, she is not going to make it. SARAH sputters like a car, reaching for TAMINA, trying to talk to her. TAMINA tries to make her way but DANA pulls her aside}

DANA: She is pretty far gone. There isn’t any point in calling an ambulance, and the police are already on there way. (pause) Just, say your goodbyes if you have the chance. We have to get Zack from the wreckage, and see if he’s alright. Make them quick.

{DANA and NICO run off stage again, this time, LEO finally gets up, shakes himself off, and takes off after them.}

TAMINA: (verge of breaking) Hey Sara

SARAH: (Raspy, weak) Hey Sunflower.

TAMINA: For once, you actually sound sober

SARAH: You know, there is something about having your stomach impaled that is pretty sobering 

{Both laugh, SARAH winces}

SARAH: Do you remember when we lived next door? And when our parents were acting crazy, we had that little fort that your dad built, and I tried to say that I was the queen, and you were the dirty peasant girl? I was a bitch.

I think about it a lot. Really, I think about you a lot. (pause) I’m sorry we broke off like we did. I had heard about what happened after, and I tried to keep my distance because I knew it was my fault. 

TAMINA: It wasn’t your fault I-

SARAH: Listen. When we fought, and we both left realizing that this was the last time we would speak as friends, I went home and I sat down on my bed, and I couldn’t decide what to do because I was so sad, and I eventually decided that I was gonna clean out my room because I wanted to turn over a new leaf, and I threw out old notes, and baseball trophies, and Mr. Sutherman’s math class homework with the doodles on it, and then I saw this little makeshift styrofoam airplane. And at first I couldn’t remember what it was, and then I did. 

It was from the arcade. FunFunFun, and you got it from the prize box at the front desk after playing games that you got tickets for, which I told you was stupid because the best games you didn’t win prizes for, you just paid to play. But I remember dreading the thought of going home, because I knew mom would be passed out on the sofa and Dad would still be 99 miles from nowhere, and then on the way home you stopped, you took the thing, and you put it in my hand, and you said “You can have it. For when you need to fly away from home” and then I knew. There wasn’t a single person in this world who knows me like you do. And I knew it then, and I knew it cleaning my room, and I know it now. 

And I am sorry. Not simply for leaving, Not for yelling, or not being there, but because for as well as you knew me, It seemed like at times I didn’t know you at all. I am sorry, because you always deserved a friend who loved you enough to be your peasant because she knew you’d been called dirty by the kids at school, or took you to the arcade and paid for your tokens, who knew things were rough at home, so she gave you a stupid airplane that she put so much meaning into, trying to push you to be the best person you could be because nobody else cared how you turned out. I am sorry for not being a better friend, even in the good times. But I knew that you deserve someone who could do what you did to them, ten fold. (grips TAMINA’s hand tightly) You deserve the world, never forget that. I’m not sure if there is a heaven, or a hell in my case but if there is, I’ll be looking up. I can’t wait to see the movie your life will become. Goodbye Sunflower

TAMINA: Goodbye Sara.

{SARAH clasps Sara’s hand tightly, and then her grip falls loose, and she dies. TAMINA does not break, she takes her hands, places them on her chest, and closes her eyes. After a moment to breathe, DANA and NICO run back, LEO at their heels. ZACK is nowhere to be found}

DANA: We went to go get Zack but I didn’t see your brother behind us, and he bolted when he saw him. I don’t know why our beloved sharpshooter didn’t chase after him, an easy catch considering he was carrying a body.

TAMINA: He was carrying a body?

DANA: Yeah, he had Nina. I think… I think he took it a lot harder than all of us. I think our best bet is to go out and look for him. I don’t want him to get in trouble for whatever grieving process he has decided to take, especially where the police are involved. I don’t want them to have to deal with two convicts.

LEO: ENOUGH! I get it. I’m sorry, stop being such a bitch!

DANA: Oh, you gonna shoot me too? I am beginning to think maybe her death wasn’t a tragic accident after all. Needed some loose ends taken care of?  
TAMINA: You can’t be serious!

DANA: I know that only an idiot brings a gun to a fist fight, but maybe he never thought it would be one.

LEO: It wasn’t like that

DANA: Really? How am I supposed to know that? How are any of us supposed to know that you didn’t intend for this to happen?

TAMINA: I know it wasn’t his intention, he’s my brother.

DANA: He’s family, it’s clouding your judgement.

NICO: I think you need to calm down

DANA: Tell me it’s not suspicious. He’s fought him plenty of times, both of them are at each other’s throats all the time, why all of a sudden is this time so life threatening?

NICO: Why would he kill her?

DANA: I don’t know, why did you kill her Leo? Couldn’t stand the idea of not getting what was yours? Did it just boil your blood to see your property belong to someone else? She was just so happy in someone else’s care, and you just can’t have that, can you? So you get into a big fight with her boyfriend that you started. have him drag her out here, and you just accidentally fire and hit her straight in the chest. Problem solved right? Thought your plan would succeed, just a victim of odd circumstances. Who was on the phone Leo? What was the little problem that you needed to have handled?

LEO: What are you talking about?

DANA: Don’t play stupid! I remember, do you remember telling me that I was “sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong” Apparently, It’s exactly what I should have done, and Nina would still be alive. Do not think for a second you have gone unseen. I see right through you, you bastard. Right. Through. You.

 

{DANA stalks off, NICO in pursuit. LEO is flinching, and TAMINA looks confused.}

TAMINA: What did she mean, Leo? What phone call?

LEO: It’s not what it sounds like, I was just calling a guy on the team

TAMINA: Are you sure?

LEO: What is that supposed to mean

TAMINA: (pause) I.. I am your sister. I will support you through thick and thin but right now I need to know, is she telling the truth?

LEO: How could you even ask me that?

TAMINA: Is she telling the truth?

LEO: No!

TAMINA: Are you sure? Don’t make me look like a fool for standing up for you; I will stand up for you but I need to be sure that what you are telling me is the only truth. Did you kill her? 

LEO: No.

TAMINA: (sighs) OK. Ok. 

{At this point, a rage fueled scream comes from off stage. TAMINA and LEO jump, and NICO and DANA appear from behind the house. NICO looks angry, and perplexed, and DANA does as well.}

TAMINA: Is that-

DANA: It is. 

NICO: We have to go get him.

{all four run towards the noise, but DANA stops LEO before they can follow suit.}

LEO: What are you doing?

DANA: You think I am gonna let you get wrapped up in this? After what you did?

LEO: We can do this later.

DANA: What? Not able to keep up with your sister as your shield? She’s too good for you anyways. There is no one here to protect you now.

LEO: From what? You gonna start swinging on me? You I can handle

DANA: With your streak of cowardice? Unlikely. I don’t even need this, but. 

{DANA pulls the gun from her coat pocket.}

LEO: Dana what the hell!

DANA: No. I have known you my whole life. You may not have a brain capable of original thoughts, but you weren’t ever careless enough to shoot without thinking. There isn’t anyone here you have to look innocent for. Just say it. It’s ok, it won’t leave us. Just tell me the truth.

LEO: I already told you the truth, please just put the gun

DANA: No. Not until you tell me the truth. Just tell me that you did it on purpose

LEO: I didn’t!

DANA: LIAR!

LEO: OKAY! Okay. I did it on purpose. I didn’t want to live without her, and I saw how happy they were, and I got jealous and killed her.

DANA: But why? Why that, why not just try to talk to her, or something. Anything!

LEO: We both know truth wasn’t her forte.

DANA: Well now you know being alive isn’t yours.

{DANA fires. The noise is loud, and the lights flash off. When they come back on, LEO is dead on the ground, and NICO is staring in horror.}

NICO: You killed him.

DANA: Yeah. He was a murderer, and a coward, and as far as everybody else is concerned, it was in self defense

NICO: No it wasn’t. I saw it, I saw you shoot, and I heard yelling.

DANA: Are you seriously trying to make me look bad? He killed her, we all saw it.

NICO: Not on purpose.

DANA: He confessed!

NICO: At gunpoint!

DANA: Fine. Maybe he looks unsuspicious in your eyes. But I know he did. He took her from this world. 

NICO: You talk a big game about coveting things that aren’t yours. You liked her just as much as he did, if not more so

DANA: But I didn’t act on it

NICO: (motions to ground) Didn’t you?

DANA: It’s not the same thing, he killed her and she was innocent, he was gonna get off easy in jail, and- and it’s not fair. 

NICO: And who made you the executioner? Once again you are sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. 

{freeze. NICO does not move to deliver his monologue, but instead stands like he is, mock freeze, save his mouth}

NICO: And we pause on the realization that I have turned my ex into a monster. The love of my life.

My mother was a monster. She fed off of my father’s infidelity until it turned her into a jealous, angry woman, and in the end she killed him over text messages, and a bottle of body spray. 

I know more than anyone how terrible people can be, and I also know what innocence looks like. When I first met Dana Leigh Tonkins, she laughed and the sun radiated from the sound. She was sweet, and smart, and she minded her business. She wasn’t some dark tragic creature, or the most beautiful woman, or the most intelligent. Or even the most charismatic. She was Dana. And that in itself, was more beautiful than any feature you could have imagined. We were happy

But every good thing ends. Dana started out well, but sometimes being with me can be like running a marathon that never ends. She got irritable, and moody, and there were times when she couldn’t stop talking, or she’d be absent for weeks. I was killing her from the inside out. But I couldn’t separate myself from her. She was all I had left. Foster parents, teachers, friends. She was the only person who had ever loved me.

Some people say that hopelessness feels like drowning. I disagree. Hopelessness is after you are already at the bottom. You don’t feel like you are drowning, you just feel dead. Like where all your organs are is just black, and pus, and filth. 

I have nothing left to live for. I have created a monster of a person, and I know now, after seeing what she has done, that I have one thing left to do before I go. One last thing. 

Maybe, I really was destined to never be loved. Maybe in every alternate universe this is what I was meant to do

{Everything unfreezes as NICO moves toward DANA. There is intense fear in DANA, because she knows what he is going to do}

DANA: Get out of my way, I have to go

NICO: You do.

DANA: What are you doing?

NICO: Fixing my mistakes

DANA: Please, you’re scaring me. I don’t want to-

{NICO pulls DANA to the ground, and starts to wrap his hands around her throat, DANA thrashes and hollers, and hoarsely begs to be let go. It is intense, long, and DANA eventually stops squirming, and lies dead. TAMINA runs in just as NICO reaches for his gun}

TAMINA: Oh my god. 

{NICO loads the bullet into the gun. }

TAMINA: What are you doing? 

NICO: Doing what I need to do.

TAMINA: Don’t. Please- I don’t know you very well but you can still pick up the pieces. Please just 

NICO: Just what. Don’t patronize me. I am only doing what you wanted to do. Only I have the gall to do it. Turn around if it bothers you so much.

{NICO fires. Silence ensues, after NICO falls dead to the ground. TAMINA looks around and sees the carnage but zones in on her brother.}

TAMINA: Leo?

{TAMINA goes to her brother, and sees the bullet hole}

TAMINA: Not you Leo… please not you. 

{TAMINA weeps, cradling LEO’s head in her lap, and stroking his hair. She stands and is a mess, teary eyed, and bawling. She reaches for the gun.}

TAMINA: Everything has lead to this. I am tired of living in a world where people are taken from me. I won’t let myself be lonely any longer. (Shakily puts barrel into mouth, and loads the gun)

{ZACK runs on stage, and sees TAMINA with the gun; TAMINA cocks the gun back, and ZACK runs over and rips the gun from out of her mouth.}

ZACK: What the hell are you doing?

TAMINA: *sobbing* Give it back! I’m ready, dammit, I’m ready!

ZACK: What happened! Did you do this?

TAMINA: What? You think I did this?

ZACK: I don’t know what to think.

TAMINA: I don’t know how it happened. We all went looking for you, we heard you screaming and we all ran, but I heard a gunshot and when I came back my brother was dead, and Dana was dead, and Nico had a gun in his mouth, and I tried to stop him, but he didn’t listen

ZACK: And so you decided you were going to kill yourself to solve the problem?

TAMINA: I’m sure it doesn’t make sense to you.

ZACK: Not at all. 

TAMINA: I am surprised. No snide comments?

ZACK: Wow. You have witnessed the deaths of all these people and you are still concerned with your perception. 

TAMINA: No, I-

ZACK: -am caught up in my own swirl of crazy emotions and suicidal tendencies that I haven’t even really grasped what has happened yet. Right?

TAMINA: I guess so..

ZACK: It’s fine. I.. usually make snide comments. 

(Pause.)

TAMINA: Are you ok?

ZACK: That’s a stupid question.

TAMINA: That’s a stupid answer. 

ZACK: Want a better one? Maybe you should kill yourself over it

TAMINA: Piss off. I was just trying to be nice.

ZACK: I don’t want your kindness. You being nice doesn’t make all my problems go away. 

TAMINA: Nothing is going to make your problems go away but maybe it’ll make them easier to deal with

ZACK: That is a crock of shit and you of all people should know that.

TAMINA: Fine! If that is how you feel, Cool. Sulk if that’s what you want but don’t snap at me for trying to help. It’s not like anyone else is going to try.

ZACK: Aww, did I hurt your feelings? Grow up. I don’t need your help, and I don’t care if you try to help and I say no and your butthurt about it. Just because you made an effort doesn’t mean I have to congratulate you for trying. 

TAMINA: I’m sorry. 

ZACK: If you are really sorry, then you’ll be quiet until the police arrive. 

(Silence follows. TAMINA is impatient, while ZACK stares ahead blankly.)

TAMINA: Why are you so mean?

ZACK: Because I want to be.

TAMINA: Stop acting childish. I didn’t do anything to you. 

ZACK: Don’t tell me what to do.

TAMINA: Alright, alright. You always been this stubborn?

(Wrath sighs, and puts his hand on the back of his neck. Sloth looks concerned.)

ZACK: Yeah. I remember Momma used to get chinese food because she didn’t know how to cook, and we couldn’t afford anything else anyways. She’d get discounts on food people never picked up. Somehow she’d always get me general tso’s chicken, but it was cold because people ordered it hours ago. I used to get so mad, and she’d say what moms say about starving children in china or africa or whatever country she thought of first. I’d yell back about me not being there and she’d just shake her head. 

It was the same thing with the dvd player. She used to have this crusty old thing with two CD’s and one of them was Aaliyah, and I adored it but she always had the other one in because Metallica was Dad’s favorite and “if he wasn’t working all the time it’s what he’d be playing” and I fought over and over until I broke the metallica one, and mom cried.

I think it might be why she left. Her whiny children, cold chinese food, and broken metallica cd’s. I’ll never really know. One day she was gone and left dad running two jobs and raising two kids. I still scream and cry about it; no more general tso and aaliyah, momma was the only one who still brought me down. 

It’s hard not to be mad at the rest of the world when their mothers taught them to see beauty in it. It’s hard not to think that the world is a terrible place when there isn’t anyone out there to tell you that it really isn’t that bad. But I tried. I worked hard for school, and I met a girl, and I played football because I was good and fun and because I could get into college. And when it didn’t matter that I came from a broken home, when I thought everything was getting better, it all went to shit. 

I am tired of people calling me stubborn. I won’t listen when they call me stupid, or a douchebag, or a cynic. I know what this world is. I have known since the day the momma stopped bringing in the chinese food. I knew when Dad got grey hair at 32. I knew when my sister was pulling clothes out of dumpsters and stealing them from JC Penny’s. I knew when Nina died. 

I.. I know you think you have things bad. I don’t know what’s going through your head, but you have got to get yourself together. I don’t care if you are depressed, and it’s hard to get out of bed but I know what life is like. You need to figure it out too. Life is gonna eat you up and shit you out and you have got to take medicine, or therapy or whatever it takes to get yourself up and out. People are ruthless monsters, and we have witnessed it tonight. I thought these people were my friends, were your friends and they have torn each other apart. 

Please. I may be done with people and fun and I understand why you want to hurt yourself, but I can’t baby you. No one can. I can only to tell you that hope is a fleeting thing. I have given it my best but you ain’t lost it yet. Being pissed off is all I have. Maybe you still have a chance to be happy. So hold on to hope if you have it. Don’t let go for anybody

(Sirens can be heard, and can be seen to stage left Police officers run on, and observe the area and see that ZACK is holding a weapon.)

POLICE: Drop your weapon!

(ZACK stands motionless, and it takes a moment for it to click in TAMINA’s head. TAMINA panics, as the police repeat. ZACK, does not move, and TAMINA is screaming for them to wait. Before the police can fire, or ZACK can drop his weapon, the scene freezes, and TAMINA steps forward. TAMINA draws her hands, and the police and ZACK remain frozen behind her.)

TAMINA: Choices. Ultimately, it all comes down to choices. It would be easy to think that this would have happened without me. It however was my choice, to come, and in doing so It could have been me that pushed the scales of fate out of balance. It could’ve been Nina. It could have been anyone.

I can only accept the responsibility that comes with my choice. That is all I can do. 

As for my friends, Don’t judge them too harshly. They acted fast and on impulse, but there is good in them, no matter how deep. Do not punish them for what they have done. After all, vices do not make a man. Virtues do.

(The scene unfreezes. Everybody but TAMINA folds their hands behind their back, and steps off stage in UNISON. One by one, the sins walk out and address TAMINA on their way out. NINA gives her the rose, brushes hair behind her ear, and departs. SARAH steps out, with a wicked grin on her face, with her hands behind her back. She pulls the airplane from behind her back, hands it to her, and hugs her before walking off. LEO walks out and drops his head on her shoulder. She runs her fingers through his hair, and nudges him to smile before he walks off. DANA scowls at her, then laughs with her before putting her hand on her shoulder and smiling before leaving. NICO walks straight, without looking, from stage right all the way to stage left. Before he reaches the curtain, he looks back, and lets his guard slips before he walks off. While Tamina looks after him, ZACK, the only person in normal clothes gives her a big hug, smiles, and they laugh before they both, simultaneously, depart from existence or the scene. Your Choice.)

THE END


End file.
